Andhra bureaucracy gets down to division process డిసెంబర్ 23, 2013

Andhra bureaucracy gets down to division process
Chief minister pleads for a united state
Mohammed Siddique, Gulf News December 22, 2013

Hyderabad Even as the opponents of Telangana state were trying their best to delay the process, the state’s official machinery seems to have got down to the exercise of bifurcation.

While the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy called on the President Pranab Mukherji at Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad and reportedly pleaded with him to keep Andhra Pradesh united, the state bureaucracy was busy collecting the necessary data including the details of assets, liabilities and workforce from different departments and the public sector undertakings.

In a significant move the General Administration Department has also issued instructions to the employees to provide details of their birth place, date of joining and pay scale, among other things. It is understood that the services of the government employees will be allocated to the state where they were born.
This was one of the major demands of those who want a separate Telangana state, that those born in Andhra and Rayalaseema, will have to move to residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and only those born in Telangana will be accepted as the employees of Telangana government.

Chief Secretary P K Mohanty has sent the copy of the draft state reorganisation bill to the heads of PSUs and the departments to go through the relevant schedules and act accordingly.

Officials said that though the political class was still divided on the issue of whether the bill will be passed by the state assembly or not, the bureaucracy was moving in a deft manner to keep everything ready by January 23, the deadline set by the President for completing the process by the state assembly. Thereafter the bill was expected to be taken up by the Parliament and the President will give his ascent to the bifurcation.

Long meeting

The issue of PSUs also assumed significance as draft bill provides for dividing some of them between the two states while some others will be common for both the states.

The issues related to the bifurcation reportedly figured during the one hour long meeting the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had with President Pranab Mukherji on Sunday morning.

Though officials described it as a courtesy call, sources said that the Chief Minister drew the attention of President to various problems which may crop up as a result of dividing the state.
Sources said that the chief minister briefed the president about the problem of drinking water, unemployment and drawing of the borders between the two states. He also raised the questions about the status of Hyderabad city before the President. The chief minister told the president that necessary details were also not there in the draft state reorganization bill, sources said.
The chief minister, a known opponent of Telangana state met the president at a time when the state assembly has gone in to recess as the draft bill was pending before the House.

Meanwhile a delegation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti also met the president and urged him to ensure the completion of process of bifurcation without any further delay. The delegation, including Members of Parliament Manda Jangannadham and G Vivek and former minister Vinod Kumar drew the President’s attention to the delay of the process by stalling the debate in the Assembly. Later they told the media that the president Assured them that the process will be completed in accordance with the constitution.
Memorandum

In another development the Telugu Desam MLAs from Seemandhra region met in Hyderabad and prepared a six page memorandum to be submitted to the president. The memorandum, which was later submitted to the president highlighted the shortcomings in the draft bill.

They alleged that the draft bill was prepared in violation of the federal spirit of the republic. They pointed out that the constitution had no provision for any joint capital for two states or special powers to the governor over the common capital. They also found fault with the mechanism which proposes to give the final control over the waters of river Krishna and Godavari to the central government.

On the other hand the deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha alleged that the Seemandhra leaders were trying to stall Telangana state to protect their properties and interests in Hyderabad. “But no such attempt will succeed”, he said.